The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Live Tiles, once a marquee feature of the Windows platform, are now on the verge of being pushed out from the OS altogether.
Earlier this year, rumors were rife that Windows Lite may arrive sans the Live Tile system.
And since then, there have been a number of developments to support this notion — mostly via leaked details and tests that the Redmond based software giant conducted.
Well, you can thank the leaks for this latest one.
A new internal build that Microsoft accidentally released, Windows 10 build 18947, comes with a new Start Menu design that is without the familiar Live Tiles. This version was supposed to be meant for internal use, but both the 32-bit and 64-bit variants were pushed to Windows Insiders by mistake.
As you can see in the screenshot below, this is what the new Start Menu looks like:
Sure, the design is by no means final.
But one thing is clear that Live Tiles will not be here much longer.
Not that the general consumers will miss them too much. And that is for the simple reason that this UI element never really picked up. Most Windows 10 apps did not support Live Tiles, and this severely hampered their productivity and usage.
Now, whatever your thoughts may be on this change, one thing to make clear right off the bat is that this is still a very early implementation here.
Microsoft will change things around a fair bit, as it tests and refines the new user interface for the Start Menu, which thankfully remains a marquee feature of the Windows platform.
Fingers crossed, whichever direction that company chooses to go in, it tests and refines the user interface changes like this thoroughly. The last thing Microsoft would want is to create another stir in the community.
